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FBI, International Partners Take Down ‘Qakbot’ Botnet Infrastructure; Christopher Wray Quoted
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FBI, International Partners Take Down ‘Qakbot’ Botnet Infrastructure; Christopher Wray Quoted

The FBI and its partners in France, Germany, Romania, Latvia, the U.K. and the Netherlands dismantled a botnet infrastructure, dubbed Qakbot, that cybercriminals used to perform financial fraud, ransomware and various criminal activities. 

“This botnet provided cybercriminals like these with a command-and-control infrastructure consisting of hundreds of thousands of computers used to carry out attacks against individuals and businesses all around the globe,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a video posted Tuesday.

Wray noted that victims of the botnet network included a medical device maker on the West Coast, a Midwest-based critical infrastructure government contractor and financial institutions on the East Coast.

According to the FBI, the Qakbot malware used spam emails containing malicious links to infect computers.

The bureau said it identified more than 700,000 compromised computers around the globe and disrupted the operation of the botnet by redirecting Qakbot traffic to FBI-operated servers that prompted the infected devices to download an uninstaller file, triggering the devices to remove the malware and disconnect from the botnet infrastructure.

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15 Small Businesses to Further Develop Homeland Security Tools in DHS SBIR Program’s 2nd Phase
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15 Small Businesses to Further Develop Homeland Security Tools in DHS SBIR Program’s 2nd Phase

Fifteen small businesses secured Department of Homeland Security grants worth nearly $15 million combined to carry out prototyping work in 10 topic areas, including an artificial intelligence-based distress alerting system, under the second phase of DHS’ Small Business Innovation Research  program.

The SBIR Phase II awards will facilitate tech development and demonstration activity over two years, DHS’ science and directorate said Tuesday.

Each awardee gains the chance to secure industry or government funding sources to productize tools resulting from the second phase.

Contractors will build platforms intended to support automated AI distress alerts and monitoring, broadband push-to-talk interoperability, airport checkpoint screening for limited mobility passengers, mass fatality tracking, semiconductor-based spectroscopy and detection of counterfeit microelectronics, biological hazards, aerosolized chemical threats, high-consequence toxins and animal diseases.

The awardees are:

  • AnalyticalAI
  • Caelum Research
  • CapeSym
  • Caspia Technologies
  • Catalyst Communications Technologies
  • Lynntech
  • Makel Engineering
  • N5 Sensors
  • Nanohmics
  • Novateur Research Solutions
  • Radiation Monitoring Devices
  • Spectral Labs
  • TDA Research
  • Vadum
  • Yotta Navigation
Shyu Says DOD Will Select Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve Technologies for Deployment
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Shyu Says DOD Will Select Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve Technologies for Deployment

Heidi Shyu, under secretary of defense for research and engineering, said the Department of Defense will soon select the first Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve experiments to be funded and deployed to the warfighter, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.

Shyu, a three-time Wash100 awardee, shared that members of the Defense Management Acquisition Group will meet in the fall to discuss and examine a list of RDER projects that are mature and ready for deployment.

Funding for the selected projects will depend on the budget appropriation for the current year and if the Pentagon has the available resources for it, Shyu said.

DOD has requested $687 million for the RDER initiative in fiscal year 2024, nearly double compared to the budget request for the prior year.

RDER was designed to facilitate prototyping and experimentation to support information advantage, joint fires, contested logistics and other joint warfighting concepts.

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RTX Secures DOD Funding to Develop & Test Multi-Mission Radar; Tom Laliberty Quoted
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RTX Secures DOD Funding to Develop & Test Multi-Mission Radar; Tom Laliberty Quoted

Raytheon, an RTX business, has received the first federal contracts for its GhostEye MR multi-mission radar, providing $7 million in funding for the development and assessment of the technology.

Issued by the U.S. Department of Defense and Air Force, these awards will help advance the radar’s development and facilitate an operational assessment later this year, RTX announced from its Arlington, Virginia headquarters on Wednesday.

“This government support confirms the growing relevance and demand for the capabilities of GhostEye MR, as nations around the globe look to bolster their air defense,” said Tom Laliberty, who serves as president of Land & Air Defense Systems at Raytheon.

Built to integrate with the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, this advanced medium-range sensor was designed and developed by Raytheon through internal research and development investments. When combined, GhostEye MR extends NASAMS’ range and altitude coverage, enhancing its defended-area capabilities.

Laliberty said that by teaming with the DOD and Air Force as well as Norwegian aerospace company Kongsberg, Raytheon will demonstrate the technology’s array of capabilities against various emerging threats.

NASAMS was successfully tested in an air base air defense experiment in Andøya, Norway, last September. During the evaluation, the weapon was able to engage and intercept multiple challenging aerial threats using Raytheon missile types and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace’s Fire Distribution Center. The testing was conducted by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Strategic Developmental Planning & Experimentation office.

In the next operational assessment, which will take place at White Sands Missile Range, evaluators will expand on capabilities shown during the previous test by linking GhostEye MR with NASAMS’ FDC using the Air Force’s relevant command and control. In this demonstration, the GhostEye MR rader will deliver surveillance cues while integrating with NASAMS so its operational performance can be assessed.

CSA, Nonprofit Make-A-Wish Collaborate on Operation Dream Maker; Amy Bleken Quoted
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CSA, Nonprofit Make-A-Wish Collaborate on Operation Dream Maker; Amy Bleken Quoted

Client Solution Architects has partnered with nonprofit organization Make-A-Wish to help fulfill the requests and needs of children of military veterans and active or reserve duty service members.

The company said Thursday its collaboration with Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic on Operation Dream Maker aligns with the community-centric vision of CSA and reflects the values of its workforce, the majority of whom are veterans.

“Corporate responsibility is about understanding the role we play in society and the impact we can make on the lives around us,” remarked CSA CEO Amy Bleken. “This partnership is our way of giving back to the military families who give so much to us and the country we love.”

CSA exceeded its goal for 2023, granting three wishes instead of just two after having raised over $45,000 through an employee-driven campaign.

“We are building bridges of empathy, gratitude and support, and we do this through the beautiful wishes we help grant and the dreams that come true. That’s our commitment. That’s our responsibility,” the chief executive added.

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Former IRS Official Paul Selby Named Energy Department CISO, Deputy CIO
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Former IRS Official Paul Selby Named Energy Department CISO, Deputy CIO

Paul Selby, former deputy chief information security officer at the Internal Revenue Service, has assumed the CISO and deputy chief information officer roles at the Department of Energy, according to his LinkedIn post published Monday.

Selby joined DOE after a two-year career at IRS where he also served as acting deputy chief for facilities management and security services.

He commands over two decades of experience in sales, project management, operations and business leadership.

His industry career included roles as vice president of sales marketing at Edgeworth Security, VP of sales at IronBrick and president of the products, solutions and applications division at LGS Innovations.

The Wake Forest University graduate served in the U.S. Navy Reserve as a supply officer.

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CISA Publishes 1st Progress Report on Vulnerability Disclosure Policy Platform
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CISA Publishes 1st Progress Report on Vulnerability Disclosure Policy Platform

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has released the first annual report on the progress of its Vulnerability Disclosure Policy platform.

The report showed that since its inception in 2021, the VDP platform has onboarded 40 CISA programs and received more than 1,330 valid disclosures, 85 percent of which were remediated,  CISA said Friday.

The platform was established two years after the policy’s creation to serve as a streamlined tool for VDP reporting and adjudication. CISA’s goal was to help bolster vulnerability awareness and security posture among federal agencies.

As of December 2022, the VDP platform enabled the remediation of more than 1,000 vulnerabilities, some of which were identified in CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog. The service also helped the Department of Homeland Security detect 235 vulnerabilities when utilized in DHS’ pilot program for detecting computer bugs across 13 of its systems.

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NASA to Deploy Optical Communication Payload to International Space Station
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NASA to Deploy Optical Communication Payload to International Space Station

NASA is set to deploy a new laser terminal to the International Space Station to demonstrate the agency’s first two-way, end-to-end laser communication system.

The Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal payload will use an optical communications link to send data from the space station to the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration in geosynchronous orbit, NASA said Monday.

ILLUMA-T is designed to transmit information at a higher rate, enabling missions to send more images and videos to optical ground stations in a single transmission.

“Once ILLUMA-T is on the space station, the terminal will send high-resolution data, including pictures and videos to LCRD at a rate of 1.2 gigabits-per-second,” said Matt Magsamen, deputy project manager for ILLUMA-T. 

“Then, the data will be sent from LCRD to ground stations in Hawaii and California. This demonstration will show how laser communications can benefit missions in low Earth orbit,” he added.

The payload will launch aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft for installation into ISS’ Japanese experiment module-exposed facility.

New INDOPACOM Directorate to Accelerate Emerging Technology Integration for Key Programs; Adm. John Aquilino Quoted
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New INDOPACOM Directorate to Accelerate Emerging Technology Integration for Key Programs; Adm. John Aquilino Quoted

Adm. John Aquilino, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, has introduced a new INDOPACOM directorate to accelerate the integration of military technologies and capabilities to support the command’s key innovation programs, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

Aquilino said the Joint Mission Accelerator Directorate will help advance the deployment of emerging technologies for initiatives including the Joint Fires Network and the Stormbreaker artificial intelligence-enabled planning and wargaming program for multi-domain operations.

The new directorate comprises teams across the Department of Defense, including the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the Defense Innovation Unit and the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office.

According to Aquilino, DIU Director Doug Beck will assign a deputy director to help INDOPACOM “plug in innovation” and connect DOD with industry players to support the command’s critical mission requirements.

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Christopher Scolese: NRO, USSF Collab Mission to Serve as ‘Watchdog’ in GEO Belt
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Christopher Scolese: NRO, USSF Collab Mission to Serve as ‘Watchdog’ in GEO Belt

Christopher Scolese, director of the National Reconnaissance Office and a four-time Wash100 awardee, said a joint satellite launch mission of NRO and the U.S. Space Force will serve as a “watchdog” to help identify potential threats to high-value assets in geosynchronous orbit, Defense One reported Monday.

The SILENTBARKER/NROL-107 mission was scheduled to launch on Tuesday, Aug. 29, aboard United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket that will lift off from a launch complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida but an impending tropical storm prompted the team to delay the launch.

“What SILENTBARKER is going to do is provide the indications and warnings so it can inform decisions about what we do or don’t need to do in terms of maneuver or awareness. So it’s a great increase in our understanding of what we’ll be able to do and will greatly improve our ability to determine future courses of action,” Scolese said.

The SILENTBARKER mission is expected to achieve full operational capability in 2026.

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